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Nutritious and filling

I bought these after seeing one of my students munching one. I was jealous and hungry.I now put one in my bag when I am in for a long day, as if you cannot get a meal, these are incredibly filling because of the oats.If I have one mid- morning I do not really need lunch at all.I do like the ginger crunch variety as well as the maple syrup which is loads sweeter.In the variety box you get two each of : Oats and Honey, Ginger Crunch and Maple syrup.In each individual pack, there are two crisp bars which look like flapjack, but there are hard and crisp. I sometimes dunk them in my tea as they are a bit nibbly otherwise.They are about 200 cals each and also nearly 7gms fat, so do be aware these are not exactly slimming.They are not cheap either- £2.39 last time in Morrison. I see Tesco have them cheaper at £1.50.This is lowdown on one flavour's ingredients:Whole Grain Rolled Oats (56%),Sugar ,Sunflower Oil ,Canadian Maple Syrup (2%) ,Honey ,Salt ,Natural Flavouring ,Emulsifier: Sunflower Lecithin ,Raising Agent: Sodium Bicarbonate ,MolassesThey are absolutely no good if you need gluten free, but are halal and kosher approved. Although I don't really understand the halal bit as they sure don't have meat in them! They do not have milk in them, so maybe that is significant.They are basically made from Granola which are toasted rolled oats.

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Would recommend because they are so yummy!

Nature Valley has its origins in 1973 when General Mills (the same company that produces breakfast cereals, Betty Crockers, etc. etc.) created a 100 percent natural ready-to-eat cereal. Today, these granola bars come in an assortment of flavours including peanut butter, oats 'n honey, cinnamon, canadian maple syrup, and even ginger! The assortment pretty much varies depending on where you are - in the UK the flavours are more limited than you would find in America and typically I believe that you can find in a normal supermarket like Tesco or Sains would be oats n honey, cinnamon and ginger. They are also the Official Supplier of Cereal Bars to the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games -- yippee to wholesome goodness!

PACKAGINGThe bars come in a typical green box that is typical of Nature Valley. I really like the way they try to brand their product -- the green and yellow colours, together with a picture of the brown granola bar really evokes a sense of 'nature' without all the fluff (and unhealthy stuff!) This is a variety pack - so you get 2 packets of each flavour. If I'm not wrong, the flavours have swapped over the years - I used to be able to get my favourite roasted almond, canadian maple syrup as well as oats and honey with this pack, but now I think they have replaced the roasted almond with ginger flavour. Each packet contains two bars which are larger than your usual breakfast bars.

TASTE AND APPEARANCEEach bar looks quite unappealing - like a brown block of oats. But they sure taste very yummy! These bars are quite crunchy and if anything, they can be a little hard to bite into especially if you just got your braces tightened. I prefer to break them up into smaller chunks that I can pop into my mouth, chew, and savour the flavours. Being so crunchy it also means that eating this bar can be quite a mess as crumbs could fall all over. The best thing about these bars, I think, is that they are not overly sweet like many other breakfast bars! Some companies try to replace sugar with artificial sugar for the 'health' benefits, but the bars still end up tasting very artificial and unwholesome. But not the Nature Valley! Let me give you a brief run-down on some of their flavours.. though I think the variety pack is probably one of the best ways for you to try all of them before deciding what you like the most!

1) Oats 'n HoneyThis is probably the most 'basic' of all the Nature Valley granola bar flavours. Don't expect anything more than oats and honey.

2) Roasted almondThis is my favourite. IF you love almonds, you will definitely love this. I will probably compare this to eating sugared almonds, with a slight saltiness to it.

3) Canadian Maple SyrupThis probably tastes the sweetest of all the Nature Valley flavours that I've tried - but still at an acceptable level. It has a very nice, sweet maple syrup taste to it.

4) GingerThis is the weirdest flavour that I've tried. It's sweet and gingerish, a bit like pickled ginger? But I find this flavour drier than normal, and to be it tastes artificial (but then again I don't really like ginger sweets either). I would have preferred the Ginger bars to be less sweet and more piquant, but that's just my personal preference.

NUTRITIONEach serving of 2 bars contain about 190 calories, 6 g of fat, 29 g of carbs of which 12 g are sugar and 160 mg of sodium. These bars do keep me quite satiated for most of the mornings (if I have it for breakfast), and I find that the sugar spike is not so severe with these (probably because the sugar content is slightly lower than normal). I find this to be a relatively healthy and natural snack, and if anything's wrong with it - it's that these can be quite dry and not so good if you're having a sore throat.

VERDICTIn my opinion, these are quite a good snack to have in your bag for you to have on the go when you're hungry!

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Lovely, tasty granola bars in a great variety of flavours.

I always try and eat breakfast as not only is it the most important meal of the day I am always hungry in the mornings and do really enjoy eating breakfast. At the moment due to me starting work quite early in the mornings I have been opting for quick easy breakfast's such as cereal bars and one that I have discovered recently is the Nature Valley Granola Bars which come in a range of flavours and which you can actually purchase in a variety box containing 6 packs of three different flavours.

These Nature Valley Granola bars can be purchased in larger supermarkets and my last purchase of the variety multi-pack containing 6 individually wrapped packs of the bars was from Sainsbury's for £1.49 on a third off special offer price. The multi-pack that I chose to purchase contains three different varieties, honey, maple syrup and ginger. I personally thought this was a great idea as it is nice to have a change to prevent getting bored from eating the same thing.

The granola bars come packed in green foil wrappers which have a slightly different coloured edge depending upon the flavour which makes it easier to distinguish between the bars. Each individual pack contains two granola bars. On the front of the wrapper is the Nature Valley logo with a picture of the granola bars and a picture to represent the flavour, either pieces of ginger, honey or maple syrup. It also states on the front that the pack contains two bars weighing 42g and that the pack contains around 190 calories (varying slightly with the flavour). On the back of the wrapper you can find ingredients listings, storage instructions and full nutritional information.

When you open each individual wrapper you will find two granola bars inside, they are rectangular in shape and are quite flat. At first I didn't think the bars looked that appealing as they are all a brown colour and look a little boring, but do not let this put you off as they taste fantastic. The bars are mainly made up of wholegrain rolled oats which are flavoured with maple syrup, ginger or honey and baked. The bars have a lovely crunchy texture and have a nice slightly caramelised, sweet taste. They taste quite similar to a oaty biscuits like hob nobs, obviously this made them much tastier than I had originally anticipated them to taste like. I personally love all of the different flavours and although the actual bars are the same texture and made of similar ingredients it is nice to have a change in taste and I find that I can eat these everyday with varying the flavour without getting bored.

With the granola bars containing wholegrain oats they are designed to release energy slowly to enable u to feel fuller for longer. I tend to eat these around 9.00am for my breakfast and do find that they help keep my hunger at bay until lunch time so in my opinion they provide a tasty and adequate breakfast.

Overall I think these are great tasting granola bars that are perfect to eat on the go or if in a rush. They also make a great snack for any time of the day and with you getting two bars in a pack you can always eat one and save the other for later. I would certainly recommend these bars to anyone who has not yet tried them.

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Tasty granola (cereal) bars. Bit sweet, but very filling

One of my recent food discoveries which has turned into a must-have purchase in my household are the Nature Valley crunchy bars. If you've ever spent much time in the US, you'd know as granola bars, but where I'm from, you'd call it a cereal bar. I've been put off these for years because at £2.50 a box, I thought they were far too expensive compared to other cereal bars. Once I did get round to buying some though, I was converted.

Looking at the golden brown oaty bars, I expected them to be a bit like a flapjack, but they were a lot closer to an oaty biscuit - brittle rather than chewy. They are much lower fat than flapjacks or most biscuits though, which I found a benefit.

===How many bars do you get in a box?===Each bar is about 2 inches wide, five inches long and half an inch thick. The boxes come in six foiled sealed packs with two of the bars in. Each variety pack has two twin-bar packs of each flavour in. The box is advertised as 12 bars in a box, which I think is a little bit cheeky. You really only get six lunch boxes worth from a box, because once you've opened the wrapper, you're hardly going to stop at half of it are you?

I can disrecommend eating only one bar of the twin pack - I did try this once and put the second bar back in its wrapper in my bag for afternoon tea, but that was a disaster - each bar is thin and brittle, so the second bar fragmented all over my bag and I had to spend ten minutes picking oat shrapnel out of my kindle. Not recommended!

===Flavours===The variety pack of crunchy bars has three flavours: oats and honey, maple syup and roasted almond. I've found that not many stores in my part of the UK actually stock the variety pack - packs containing just the oat and honey seem much more common option. In all honesty, there seems little variation in the actual flavour though - they mostly just taste of sweet toasted oats. I find it pleasant though, and although it is a little bit on the sweet side for my taste, it's much less so than most bars.

I'm not at all fond of marzipan, so I thought I'd hate the roasted almond flavour. But it tasted just like the oat and honey bar, but a little bit nutty. I can just about identify which is the maple syrup one and which is the honey in a blind taste test (they are both very sweet, but with a subtly different smell and the maple syrup has a bit of an after-taste), but again, neither of these flavours comes through particularly strongly, so I'd describe it more of a generic "sweet" taste than whatever it says on the label.

===Texture===I'm recovering from dental surgery at the moment, so I'm looking at the texture of my foods very carefully. I found these bars required a lot of chewing, because as the name suggests, they are very crunchy and brittle. But because they are made of oats, when they fragment, they do so in a crumbly way and break into pieces that aren't too sharp. Unlike some other cereal bars, I didn't find they got stuck in my teeth, which was a plus point. Small children and the elderly may struggle with these as they are very hard, but most people wouldn't have a problem. If they are too hard, breaking off pieces to eat is an option, but I found that they crumbled when I did this.

===Are they filling?===A resounding yes to this! By the time I've worked my way through one of these, my jaw hurts and I'm half way to being full.

===Nutrition===There are 194 calories per twin-pack of the oat and honey flavour, so this compares very well with a bag of crisps or a chocolate bar. But this is much more filling. It'll never be a replacement for a proper lunch, but it's definitely good for elevenses or a hiking snack. Most of the calories are from carbs (29.6g per 42g twin-bar with a whopping 11.3g sugar). There was more fat than I expected (6.8g, of which 0.8g saturated).

These are a snack food. You can pretend to yourself that they are healthy because they are wholegrain if you like, but they're still full of sugar, so don't make the mistake of thinking you can just keep eating them and the calories won't matter! They're great for an energy food when out playing sports, but I found they were a bit fragile for taking hiking unless kept in a lunch box.

=== Ingredients===As you would expect, oats made up more than half of the bar, meaning they aren't suitable for coeliacs (because they have gluten), followed by sugar, sunflower oil, honey (for the honey bar), salt, molasses, soy, and sodium bicarbonate. Additional ingredients for the other bars in the variety pack are walnuts, almonds, pecan, peanuts.

The allergy panel warns of gluten, soy, almonds, hazelnuts, peanuts and pecans in all products. They are vegetarian but aren't vegan because of the honey, but they are non-dairy, which means I personally rate them higher than the vast majority of other cereal bars (which typically have dairy in them).

===Conclusion===Would I recommend them? If you're going to buy snacks anyway then yes, these are good! They are a bit more expensive, but not massively so on a per weight basis - each twin-bar is a lot more filling and than most cereal bars. And they have the added bonus of not having dairy in.

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I don't think I would buy these again

Nature Valley Crunchy Granola Bars Variety Pack

Description: Manufacturer: Nature Valley

Recently I have been trying to lose a few pounds by healthy eating, exercise and also aiming to eat five portions of fruit and vegetables every day. I have also cut out snacks and unhealthy treats and am really pleased that I have already lose weight and feel better too.

When I bought these granola bars, I didn't read the packaging which in retrospect was a mistake because they are less healthy than I had expected them to be, containing quite a lot of fat and sugar.

The pack contains six bars with two each of the three flavours. These are oats and honey, Canadian maple syrup and apple crunch. A pack will cost you around £2.30 and can be found in most supermarkets. Inside the cardboard box the bars are individually sealed in foil wrappers for freshness.

I found the Canadian maple syrup flavour too sweet and sickly for my tastes so didn't enjoy that flavour. The taste was a little artificial and I couldn't finish a whole bar. I am normally a fan of maple syrup so was surprised that I didn't like this flavour but they didn't taste particularly natural.

The apple ones didn't have enough apple in and could have done with more to allow the taste to be more prominent. It tasted more like a hint of apple juice had been added than actually having apple pieces in it.

The oats and honey ones were probably my favourite from all three as they were sweet but not sickly. The honey went well with the oats and granola so this was the best flavour in my opinion.

These bars are quite hard and so good if you enjoy crunchy cereal type bars but maybe not ideal for those who prefer softer and more chewy bars. They are quite thick and there is a good mix of cereals in each mouthful so if they were a little softer, they could be quite good.

Overall, these bars were okay but the flavours were not exciting enough to justify the fat and sugar content. They are quite filling and a good way to soothe hunger pans without reaching for chocolate or crisps but a bit too hard for me and probably not something I would buy again.

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Nature Valley Oats 'N' Honey Granola Bar

I will be reviewing the Oats & Honey variety of these bars as they are the only flavour I have tried.

My mom bought these for herself originally after seeing the TV advert and thinking how nice they sounded. However after she ate the first one she decided she hated them and passed them down for me to try. I only tried them originally because I thought they would be low in fat and calories, great for my bid to start eating healthy.

Nutritional Information:(Based on the serving size of two bars)Calories: 180Fat: 6gCarbohydrates: 29.0gProtein: 4g

To be honest I thought the calories would be a lot lower and these bars would be generally healthy for you but judging by the shocking 11g of sugar contained in these bars they are actually pretty bad for you.

You get two bars per packet and these bars are said to contain Oats, Honey and other grains which isn't very much information. The two bars are quite filling and kept me going until after dinnertime. I dipped mine in my coffee so that probably made the bars even worse for me but it made them taste a hell of a lot better!

The Taste:Now the first bar of this I tasted I really didnt like it. But when I was in a hurry packing myself some food to take to work I ended up shoving another one in my bag and eating it at lunch.

The second time I ate one it tasted totally different, I have no idea why that was.I don't think they taste of honey or oats, I got the quite distinctive taste of Hobnobs. They taste and have the exact same texture of those biscuits. I think if anything a hobnob contains less fat and sugar than this so called healthy bar so your actually better of having a biscuit (that tastes EXACTLY the same) rather than one of these. They re nice dipped in coffee and tea, so a nice thing to curl up & watch the TV with a cuppa with.

Overall Opinion:I probably wont buy these again as they aren't really that special. These bars for a pack of 6 is around £3 but I don't think they are worth even that. Not when you can buy a packet of Hobnobs for about £1 and they have the same taste!I really wouldnt bother, they are quite bad for you, taste the same as hobnobs and are expensive for what they are.

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My breakfast treat :)

Personally, I have only tried the Oats and Honey variety of Crunchy Granola bars, so this review will be centred around them and not the title pack.

Most mornings, I make the long trek down to my local railway station, miss my train by two minutes, buy my ticket and then find myself at a loss as with what to do for the next half an hour. Luckily, on the platform there is a nice lady who sells wonderful things like hot chocolate and coffee! However, as I've just ran straight out the door after leaping out of bed, I've rarely eaten breakfast and so need something to fill me up whilst I wait.

This is where Nature Valley comes in. I spotted the Oat and Honey Granola bars about two months ago, and have been hooked since. They sell for 45p in the platform cafe and I normally buy them with a hot chocolate - bargain breakfast in at £1.65! I was a bit wary of trying them the first time I bought one but needs won out and I plumped for it... The packaging didn't really have a chance to attract me, as they were hidden on the shelf below the counter, but it is very attractive. Bright green and yellow, perfect on a grey winters morning. The foil wrap keeps them fresh as well.

In each pack you get two bars of crunchy granola-y goodness! Each pack (so both bars) is 198 calories, if you're counting. They don't have anything particular about them when you first open, aside from the fact that they resemble what is essentially a chocolate bar shaped biscuit. Because, that's kind of what they really are. I tend to eat mine by snapping each bar into quarters and then nibbling away at them - it makes them last longer! Because of the oat base, you find that they do fill you up remarkably well for their size and keep you going for a good few hours, much the same as a bowl of cereal would.

Taste wise, they're quite sweet, and go lovely with a hot chocolate (especially if you dunk them in the foam on top ;)). They don't taste overwhelmingly of honey, but you definitely know that it's a honey bar, if that makes sense! They're crunchy and hold together quite well as you eat them, but they do crumble towards the end. This is mainly why I break mine up in the packet and only eat a little chunk at a time; this way, the majority of the crumbs stay inside the pack and I can eat them once I've eaten the bars.

There is very little I can fault with this product. It's tasty, it's (somewhat) filling, it's not bank breaking and it's more healthy than a KitKat or similar.

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4 stars

I am a bit of a cereal addict and would eat it for breakfast, lunch and dinner if I could! I have always loved cereal bars too but since becoming a student, they have become something of a luxury that I ask my mum to buy me whenever I'm home. I hadn't tried Nature's Valley until a few weeks ago but now they've become one of my favourite treats when I'm home.

What are they?**************Nature's Valley make a variety of granola and oat based products. These crunchy granola bars are basically a flatter version of the classic flapjack, with a distinct flavour of honey that gives them a very sweet taste. As well as the classic 'Oats n' Honey' flavour, there are also two more to choose from; 'Canadian Maple Syrup' and 'Apple Crunch'. The flavours aren't particularly different, and the Oats n' honey taste suspiciously similar to the Canadian Maple syrup although the latter are perhaps a bit sweeter. The Apple Crunch have only a very slight hint of apple which is nice as the flavour isn't too artificial or overpowering.

In a variety box you get 6 bars, two of each flavour. The most noticeable aspect of the flavour of these bars is their sweetness and you have to have quite a sweet tooth to appreciate the taste of these. As they are made from oats, however they don't taste too artificial or like they have too many chemicals which is always a good thing!

On a personal note, I absolutely love these and find them really addictive! Their sweet taste and subtle flavours make them one of my favourite cereal bars and the oaty taste sets them apart from other varieties.

The texture of the bars is very hard and would break your teeth if you weren't too careful! I usually break them up into smaller chunks to avoid biting down too hard on them but the only problem with this is that they are very crumbly and are impossible to eat without spilling crumbs everywhere. I usually stick to eating them alone as it can be a bit embarrassing brushing all the crumbs off your jeans every other minute.

Packaging***********The bars come in a cardboard box which is recyclable and earns brownie points for Nature's Valley! Although saying that, the company would be pretty stupid to call themselves Nature's Valley without being environmentally friendly. The front of the box shows the three types of cereal bars on a green background. The Nature's Valley logo is shown clearly on the box so they are easy to spot in the supermarket. The green box, along with a picture of a sunset both fit with the 'natural theme' and make you feel as if you are eating something really wholesome when you munch on one of these.

Each cereal bar is individually wrapped in foil, keeping them fresh and making them ideal to take to work or on the move with you. You get two bars in each individual packet so they make a filling and satisfying snack whenever you need a quick energy boost.

Nutritional Value**************One of the bad things about these bars is that they are quite a bit higher in fat than other cereal bars. Each bar contains 194 calories which, although not as much as a bar of chocolate, still isn't particularly low fat. The oaty taste makes you feel as if you're being quite healthy when you eat one of these but in reality they aren't that good for your waistline. They are also quite high in sugar, not surprising due to their sweet taste and contain 11.7g of the sweet stuff which is over 13% of your daily allowance. The full nutritional values are as follows;

Calories: 194Fat: 6.9gOf which saturates : 0.8gSalt 0.1gSugar:11.7g

The wrapper also tells us that they are suitable for vegetarians but contain traces of nuts.

I love these bars but have heard some people complaining that they are too dry as they are simply oats and don't contain bits of fruit to make them a bit more moist. I prefer them to be a bit drier but if you are someone that likes fruity cereal bars they may not be for you.

Another slight negative is that a box of these will usually set you back a bit more than some of the other cereal bar brands. They are usually around £2.20 for a box in the supermarket but you can sometimes find them on offer and get them a bit cheaper.

Overall, I really love these bars and they are a nice treat when you fancy something sweet. They aren't perhaps as healthy as you might think at first but they've got to be better than chocolate and are slightly less guilt inducing!

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Highly recommended!

I've been quite a fan of the cereal/crunchy/oaty/snack bar for some time now, and they really seem to have grown in popularity in recent years. I certainly don't remember seeing such variety available in the shops a few years ago. Anyway, I tend to buy whichever happens to be on offer at the time, and in Tesco on a recent trip the offer was on all the Nature Valley Crunchy Granola Bars. I bought the variety pack, which contains two each of three varieties: Canadian Maple Syrup, Oats 'n Honey and Apple Crunch. To be honest all three flavours sounded rather lovely and I couldn't wait to start tasting.

Packaging ~~~~~~~The outer box is quite attractive and eye catching, mainly green in colour with a picture of the bars placed over a graphic of a sunrise over a valley. On the back however, is a rather dull photograph of a girl looking down over a real valley along with all the nutritional info about the product. For some reason which I don't understand, one of the side panels of the box is written completely in what looks like Arabic (but I could be wrong, I certainly couldn't decipher it anyway)Inside are six smaller shiny foil wrapped packages each containing two flat bars of crunchy granola. In the variety packs there are two of each of the three flavours although each flavour is also available in it's own box of six as well.

What's In Them? ~~~~~~~~~~~Each two bar serving (42g) contains no more than:

Look and Taste ~~~~~~~~~~Granola is basically just rolled wholegrain oats mixed with honey and, depending on the product, other ingredients and baked until crispy. When you open one of the foil packets you find two hard thin slabs of what looks like golden compressed oats. All the varieties look the same, and to a degree they all taste the same, that's because the flavours that differentiate them are very subtle. Not so subtle that you can't taste it, but not overpowering and none of them taste of anything artificial. The generic taste is a lovely roasted oaty sweetness. They really are crisp and crunchy, quite dry in so much that there are no pieces of fruit or to add moisture, but not too dry that you're gasping for a drink

Oats 'n Honey - this is just the basic bar with no added flavours. Quite sweet with 2% honey

Canadian Maple Syrup - as above but with 2% maple syrup, although there is honey as well. The lovely distinct smoky taste of maple syrup makes it a favourite for me

Apple Crunch - this one has 2% dehydrated apple and some cinnamon as its difference, and again the subtle taste just gives a hint of apple and spice.

Verdict ~~~~~Oh these are good, I mean 'really' good. To hell with the fact that they're quite fattening, they're just so moreish. The combination of crisp and crunchy with the flavours makes them just about perfect in my book. When you eat them you feel like you're eating something wholesome and homemade, there are no artificial flavourings to ruin the experience. They are made from wholegrain oats, which are apparently a good source of nutrients and good for maintaining cholesterol levels, so that's a good enough excuse to eat them for me. Each pack of two bars weighs 42g which is fairly hefty for a snack bar but if that's too much for you, you can of course, just eat one and save one for later (not something I've managed yet!) If you do manage both bars you'll know you've eaten them, they really are quite filling.

They are available from all the major supermarkets priced at around £2.14, although as I mentioned earlier they are/were on offer in Tesco for £1.50. This is one product that I will definitely be buying again, even when the price goes back up they only work out at about 36p per bar.Incidentally on the website www.naturevalley.co.uk they list a 'Roasted Almond' version which I have yet to find in the stores, but if you're keen to try them all then Waitrose also list a 'Banana Nut' version, which is curious....

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A quick tasty oatty snack

Nature Valley Crunchy Granola Bars Variety Pack

I always try different snacks to mix match my appetite and this crunchy never bar did not go unnoticed.

The very fact that the bars are made principally from whole grain rolled oats generated my interest in trying out these. The packaging is very attractive in green wrapper with Nature Valley written on a yellow strip.

The variety box contains bars of three varieties -Canadian Maple Syrup, Oats N Honey and Apple Crunch. I did not like Canadian Maple as it was too sweet for me and Apple crunch was average in taste. If you like sweetish apple taste you might like apple variant as well.

I was particularly impressed about OATS N HONEY as I love this distinct taste as compared to other two.The bars are rough in texture and quite frail. The tiny granules will definitely prompt you to finish the bars in a hurry. The granules do create an impact when you try and take an initial bite and you can really make out why the bars are termed as crunchy granola. You will like the taste if you like crunchy variants of snacks.

Nutritional Value clearly mentions that per 100 gram it contains 8.3 gram protein,70.4 gram carbohydrates .16 gram fat is bit too high to me but considering the yummy taste you can sideline that for sometime.

By and large I like them as a quick variation of my regular chocolate snacks.You can try it out to further explore if you like the crunchy feeling.

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Perfect breakfast bar for me, tastes good and does you good!

I had always wanted to try Granola bars after coming back from Cayman Islands where I realised they were very popular and very much so in the States. This was the first box I saw that sold Granola bars and I haven't seen many since! I used to buy the original pack of 6 until I noticed one day that the supermarket started selling a variety pack of Apple Crunch, Canadian Maple Syrup and Oats and Honey (Oat and Honey the only flavour granola bar that the original pack contains). The apple crunch is my favourite and has a subtle apple flavour which is just so yum! I still haven't tried maple syrup flavour as my partner eats those ones as generally I dislike maple syrup! The oats and honey flavour is basically what it is and tastes like, not overly sweet though!

The box is usually about £2.00 and contains 6 bars inside. Each bar contains two Granola bars inside. I take one to work every morning and have one with my 10am cup of tea, (which to me is my breakfast and wake up cup of tea) - to me = the perfect combo! I find that as the first thing I eat before lunch it seems to keep hunger locked up very well in comparison to other breakfast bars I have tried! It is good to know you are eating oats as they are healthy and give you plenty of energy! Brilliant breakfast bar or as a snack during the day and especially before the gym! Sometimes these are on offer which makes them a better buy! PS. The only thing I diskike about these bars is then fact that it crumbles everywhere when you are eating it!

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Does exactly what it says on the wrapper.

This is perhaps the most under rated product that I have recently tried. I was an avid granola hater, I had tried many different makes, most memorably the Starbucks version which, without being unkind nearly made me gag. However, these bars are delightful, and buying the variety pack gives you a selection to shoose from. The options that come in the pack are Canadian Maple Syrup, Oats and Honey and Apple Crunch and each does exactly what it says on the tin. None of the flavours are over powering.

Each wrapper contains 2 bars and they make a perfect snack to have with a coffee or tea break and they are very good as a breakfast item. My only issue with them is that you do need a drink to wash them down. As oats is the dominant ingredient without a brew they can become a little claggy in the mouth but dont let that put you off trying them.

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Great granola bar, truly one of a kind

There has been a lot in the press about the advantages of eating more whole grains including oats to help keep a healthy body and aid digestion. Sometimes it just isnt possible for me to have a substantial breakfast so i have recently tried these. I bought the variey pack on special offer in Sainsburys for £1.49 a pack. The usual retail price is £2.19 for a pack of 6. My pack included two of each of the original oats and honey, maple syrup and apple crunch. The great advantage of these bars is that the granola is baked into a bar and so isnt a loose cereal so you can eat on the go. Each flavour was equally dellcious but maple syrup to me was the best. These bars do not taste artificially sweet but the honey used in the production helps with the taste. I must say that i don't like honey so these do not taste too strongly of honey you are merely left with a sweet natural taste. It must be noted that due to the nature of the product nuts are uised so this is no good for anyone with an allergy. You can't buy these in Asda but they are available in the other big supermarkets. There are two bars in each pack and come to approx 190 calories for the pack. This is more calories than i would usually spend on a cereal bar, but they really are substantial enough to have as a breakfast replacement. For any weight watchers they are 1.5 points per bar, so 3 points for the pack. You will not regret trying these they are amazing!

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Nature Valley Granola Bars

Nature Valley Granola Bars

The granola bars from Nature Valley are some of the tastiest I have tried. Granola is traditionally a snack or breakfast food consisting of rolled wholegrain oats.

As we know from various television commercials and bulletins wholegrain is a very important part of our diet. We are meant to eat at least three portions of whole grain every day to help our bodies function effectively. The reason why we need whole grains is that they contain a combination of protein, fibre, vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and carbohydrates to help keep your heart healthy and help maintain a healthy body.

Nature Valley was established in 1975 in the United States and what I love about them is that they really care about their products and giving their customers a healthier lifestyle. On their website they have a section where you can download 1,000 different walks that you can take around the country to get you active and moving. They also say that they have devoted themselves to baking the best crunchy granola bars around.

Well, I definitely agree with that statement. Nature Valley actually describe these bars as, "delicious and crunchy." The granola itself has been baked into handy snack size bars. These bars are indeed very crunchy but what's nice is at the same time they are nice and crumbly as they have lots of oats and crumbs all over them which is great. The bars come two to a pack and are probably about 10cm long and 3 cm wide.

They come in a number of different flavours but I will just concentrate on the flavours that come in the variety box. Each box has 6 bars, 2 of each of the following flavours:

Oats and Honey - crunchy texture with an oaty taste and pure honey. They also include hazelnut, almond, pecan, peanut, walnut and soya ingredients.

Canadian Maple syrup - crunchy texture with the delicious and unmistakeable taste of maple syrup

Apple Crunch -warm apple taste with a hint of cinnamon.

All these bars have a lovely sweet taste to them which is great as well as the lovely oaty taste you get with granola, it's a really good mix. What I also like about them is that they don't have too many calories either. Let's take the oats and honey variety for an example. If you eat the serving size which is the two bars then this is only 194 calories which in my opinion is not too bad. This is only 10% of you GDA.

You can find these bars for sale in most supermarkets and I bought them in Sainsburys for £2.19 for a box of six.

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A handy, tasty snack, useful for lunchboxes.

I'm always on a quest to find interesting, tasty, nutritious and healthy additions for my childrens' lunch boxes. It's a difficult task to say the least. Tasty, nutritious and healthy isn't a combination easily found in any one food product, particularly where children are concerned. And these granola bars are no exception. However, I make a point of purchasing these bars at least once every couple of months for a few reasons:

One: I tend to opt for flavours that I like to eat even though I'm highly unlikely to eat them. I somehow expect my kids to have similar taste preferences to me.

Two: The box design. There's something about the brand name itself 'Nature Valley' that just shouts 'healthy and natural'. The box is coloured green, as green as the valleys pictured in the background with the morning sun rising in the behind the hills. And the picture of the contents, three delicious looking cereal bars seemingly jump out at you, just wanting you to pick them up. How could I ignore them?

Three: Within the box there are three different varieties of crunchy granola bars which is even more tempting as all the flavours appeal to me. Even more to the point, I know my children would love them as they often don't like cereal bars containing fruit. However, one of the bars, Apple Crunch, contains a small amount of apple pieces that my children do like.

Four: The words 'whole grain oats' are prominently displayed within a red circle on the packet. Oats, let alone the fact that they're wholegrain, have such a healthy association nowadays and I feel coerced into thinking I'll be providing my children with something that's healthy and tasty.

Now, after considering the calorie, fat and sugar count for each packet, I only ever provide my children with 1 single bar at a time. I'm sure they'd far prefer eating the two bars, but it's up to me of course, to make sure they're not overloading on the sugar. This way they're only eating half the amount of fat, sugar and calories at a time.

Unfortunately, no matter how much the healthy ingredients are promoted, when it comes down to the overall product, it's still full of fat and sugar. But, all things in moderation, as they say. These bars are very tasty and they do provide a filling element and a quick releasing energy boost.

Overall, these bars are very tasty with a nice crunch and each of the flavours are distinct from each other. Personally, I prefer the maple syrup which has a strong taste of delicious maple.

I don't think it's a particularly good idea packaging two bars into each individual pack. This is only encouraging you to eat two bars at a time rather than one. In these days of health awareness, I think the manufacturers should consider repackaging the bars in singles. Oh, I know, that means more packaging, wasteful etc, but there are environmentally friendly packaging materials out there as well!

~~~Nutritional Value~~~

Per 2 bar serving: 194 calories, 11.7g of sugar, 6.9g of sugar, 0.8g of salt. This is why I serve one at a time thereby halving the sugar, fat, salt and calorie consumption.

~~~Ingredients~~~

All the bars contain: Whole grain rolled oats, sugar, sunflower oil, water, honey, salt, flavouring, emulsifier, soya lecithin, raising agent and sodium bicarbonate . The only difference is the Canadian Maple Syrup contains Molasses and the Apple contains dehydrated apple. The Honey flavour just contains a bit more honey as an ingredient.

~~~Where to find them~~~

They have a lovely website at http://www.naturevalley.co.uk/ where you can find out more information about Nature Valley products. If you want to buy some, they're usually found in major supermarkets priced at around £2.15..